"'Key to Napoleon's prison to go on sale'" Topic

A certain amount of huff and puff about this today.

According to BBC Radio Scotland, Napoleon Bonaparte was "the military general who laid the foundations of modern France and played a leading role in the the French Revolution." So, that's all right then.

"The key to Napoleon's prison bedroom is going under the hammer after it was unearthed in a trunk in Scotland.

The 13cm key was used to unlock the room where the French emperor died in 1821, on the island of St Helena where he was in exile as a British prisoner. "

From "The National'

link

Why the 'huff and puff'?

Why would you need to lock someone in their room while they were on their deathbed? Apparently they had a bad case of "Napoleon Derangement Syndrome."

Or were deeply suspicious, JSchutt. I thought, actually, we paid prison guards to be deeply suspicious. Picture the counterfactual--Sir Hudson Lowe explaining to his superiors (after Bonny's successful escape) "well, I stopped taking the usual precautions when one doctor and his entourage told me he was much too sick to try anything, so…"

Whenever I felt tempted to skip SOP, I always asked myself how my excuse would sound if things went wrong. Mostly, I then went back and did things by the book.

Why would you need to lock someone in their room while they were on their deathbed?

Probably because his jailer, General Sir Hudson Lowe, was known to be a nasty piece of work; petty, sadistic, self-righteous, paranoid, and determined to punish Bonaparte any way he could.

Every room in the house may well have been supplied with a key. Nobody has confirmed whether in the case of the former Empereur any of them were ever turned in the interests of prisoner security whereas this might simply have occured to obtain privacy.

"Military general?" Is there another kind of general officer?

It's tragic how remote the modern media is from the military experience in the Western world.

I'm pretty sure there are countries that have police generals.

The USA, in Philip K. Dick's Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said, for example.

Surgeon generals? Inspector generals? Witch-finder generals? (That last may be about due for a comeback.)

Remember, Nine pound: the modern virtues are to be inclusive and not to be offensive. Learning and thinking didn't make the short list.

MiniPigs, you might know. What happened to the people who were supposed to keep an eye on your hero when he was on Elba? That sort of thing can really play hob with your OER, you know. And is it possible to buy keys to any of the cells at Vincennes?

@aAndy Fyfe. More puff than huff.

Relax everyone. I'm sure the Brit stealing the key and other stuff was merely a lack of discipline. LOL

Hardly a "prison"? I thought he was a house guest?

I believe the key went for £81,900.00 GBP! Phew! If that's just for a key, imagine what his hat might be worth?